The Unwritten Pages
by Kusabiishi
Summary: From the minute Allen and his friends found themselves trapped in the Ark, he knew something wasn't right and that whatever was making itself at home in his body, he'd already lost the battle. "My Ark, my sword, my body," it whispered to him, then broke into peels of laughter. After thirty-five long years, Allen Walker finally remembers everything about who he used to be.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **Oh, look, the person who hasn't posted anything on here in two years is posting something on here! Been doing a lot of writing for DGM lately, but this is the first thing I've ever posted for it. Hope you guys like it!

Some minor edits done on 01/11/15. 

**Disclaimer: **I don't own DGM, obviously.

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><p>Entering the Ark, an intense wave of nostalgia washed over him for the second time that day. Just like when he'd stepped into the Ark earlier, guided only by the word of a rapidly fading Akuma, Allen was struck by the same, undeniable feeling of deja vu.<p>

It was like he'd come home at long last. Yet at the very same time, an overwhelming and uncharacteristic rage coursed through him, making his fingers twitch.

Of course, his friends tumbling down out of the same gate that he had and crushing him under their weight didn't help his apparently bad mood, but something deep down told him that wasn't the bulk of the issue.

"You're crushing me!" Allen screamed at them, though he doubted yelling at them had much to do with them actually _getting off him._

"What is this place?" Kanda asked, looking around the town bathed in white as they all came to stand on their own two feet. Allen could understand the feeling; he'd been in awe the first time he'd come here and he'd _known_ he was headed into Noah's Ark. It hadn't really prepared him for the sight, but no longer did he feel even the slightest bit of confusion. Instead, a strange sense of belonging swelled in his chest.

"We're in the Ark," Allen explained, sounding more surprised than felt. Nothing had indicated they'd be brought here, yet it was like he had somehow _expected _it.

A dark thought occurred to him and he shook his head, pushing it away. He hadn't grabbed onto Lenalee because he'd wanted to come back here; it was because she was his friend.

So lost in thought, he ignored Kanda when the older man asked what they were doing there; he didn't respond to anything at all, in fact, until Lavi called out to them, "H-hey, there's some weird pumpkin under Lenalee!"

"M-move, lero! Damn Exorcists!"

Kanda immediately unsheathed his sword, threatening the pumpkin umbrella. Allen half expected himself to do the same, but something stopped him. He crouched down to look the pumpkin in its eyeless sockets and asked, "You're Milennie's golem, aren't you?"

Allen nearly face-planted into the pavement when those words tumbled out of his mouth. It was like they weren't his own, like he'd read something off a sheet of paper. A script. Since when did he call the Earl _that?_ And what was that about that pumpkin umbrella being a golem?!

"_Milennie?_" Kanda repeated, raising an eyebrow at his choice of words. Allen chuckled nervously.

"I-it suits him more than 'Milennium Earl', don't you think?"

Kanda glared; he didn't have to open his mouth for Allen to figure out that he didn't agree.

"And how do you know I'm a golem, lero?!"

_Apparently_, Kanda didn't appreciate the pumpkin opening its big mouth. Without skipping a beat, he lightly jabbed the pumpkin umbrella in its... neck? "_Let us out_, if you don't want to be sliced to bits." When a moment passed and the umbrella still hadn't answered, Kanda yelled, "Where's the exit?!"

"Th-there is... no exit, lero..."

_How could they operate the Ark without its musician?_

_Why would the Ark even listen to them?_

Allen pulled on a tight-lipped smile, folding his arms behind his back. He couldn't place what he was feeling. Was it anger?

Kanda spared him a glance, the change in his body language not going unnoticed. Lero, however, remained oblivious and continued, speaking like his words were no longer his own; it took even Allen a second to realize it was a recording.

"This ship has just completed its role and come to a stop. Nice job, Lero, it's time for the young exorcists to depart!" Though the words came out of Lero's unmoving mouth, it didn't take a genius to figure out who the owner of such a strident, grating voice could be.

As he finished speaking those words, a balloon bearing the Earl's likeness shot out of the umbrella's mouth. "You and this ship will go on a one-way voyage to hell!"

The buildings around them collapsed, an explosion with no origin sending debris falling in the direction of the cracking pavement. The whole area was on the verge of collapsing right beneath their feet.

"Be careful! The places that have been downloaded have begun to collapse!"

Allen didn't look away from the speaker, narrowing his eyes at the balloon bearing the Earl's likeness. Allen was more confused over his _lack _of confusion than anything else. Why did he know exactly what the Earl meant?

"This ship will soon disappear. Three more hours is all you have left in this world!" His hands that had remained folded behind his back for the better part of the Earl's rambling came back down to hang at his sides. "Little lady, you have such good fri—Ah?"

The Earl was cut off by a loud pop, the balloon loosing all its air and flying off to destinations unknown. Allen huffed, glaring at the space the Earl balloon had previously been occupying before retracting his sharp claw. He could feel the eyes of his friends boring holes into the back of his head, all of them jarred by the abrupt ending of the Earl's cryptic message.

When he met their gazes, he laughed slightly. There was no way he could justify his sudden irritability; he didn't understand it himself. Debris from a nearby collapsing building fell between him and his friends. He jumped, startled, as the impact started a chain reaction and the floor fell from beneath his feet.

"We need to move!" With surprising ease, Allen maneuvered himself back onto solid ground, grabbing onto a partially intact building with Crown Clown. The Ark was collapsing—fast—and something told Allen that Lero wasn't lying when he said there was no exit. _You can't run, _something whispered to him. _You can't hide. _The ghostly, familiar voice's words were punctuated by a soft laugh.

If there wasn't an exit, he'd just have to _make_ one.

Although he had no idea how he planned on doing that.

They continued through the maze of crumbling streets and falling walls, Allen somehow navigating it all with ease. They couldn't outrun the collapsing city. It caught up to them, the very floor they were standing on cracking right down the middle like an egg.

"I-I was telling the truth, lero; there's no exit! You can't get off this ship. You're going to die here, lero!" Allen grit his teeth, casting a glare at the pumpkin umbrella. That was all he could do to keep himself from flattening the umbrella's face with his fist.

"If it just an exit you want, there is one." Allen didn't even need to glance at the source. The image of a handsome, dark-haired man he'd never met popped into his head. "Boy."

Crowley and Lavi both pointed and screamed, "Thick Lens!"

Both of Allen's arm shot up in the air and he joyfully cried out, "_Joyd!_" His friends turned to him, startled. The big grin that broke out across his face quickly fell when he turned and saw the person in question... dressed like a hobo. His arms fell back to his sides. "What on earth are you wearing?"

This man was unlike the one in that image he'd seen when he'd heard his voice. He'd recalled someone else, yet something told Allen that this man was one and the same. He was "Joyd".

Allen watched with no small amount of amusement as the cigarette fell out of the man's mouth and dropped to the ground.

A smirk grew on the man's face, replacing his previous shock. "How do you know that name, Boy?" What? Was he not supposed to?

He hummed softly, pressing a finger to his chin as if he were thinking. "I'm not sure, _Joyd_," he said lowly, tasting the word on his tongue as he said it slowly. "Maybe you could help me remember?"

Joyd's smirk widened into a grin. "What did you have in mind, Boy?"

A whimsical giggle escaped pale lips. "_Well_," he said, bridging the gap between them, coming close enough to the other man that their chest nearly touched. "I can think of a _few _uses for the Noah of _Pleasure_'s power to 'Choose'."

"What the hell, Allen?!" Lavi screamed. Allen spared them a glance, his lips twisting upwards into a smirk. Their wide eyes and dropped jaws were amusing to be sure, but he wasn't interested in them. His focus turned back to Joyd.

"Oh?"

Tyki's hand raised, his knuckle softly caressing Allen's cheek before reaching back and taking a fistful of his snow white hair in his hand. Allen purred his approval of the rough handling, until the man's forehead crashed into his own. An offended yell of genuine surprise passed through his lips. "Boy, why are still alive?!"

Allen fell back, clicking his tongue as he nursed his aching forehead. He felt vaguely disappointed—and a little pissed, to be honest. As if triggered by his apparent rejection, he recalled the visage of that man who'd almost destroyed his Innocence, who'd thrust his hand into his chest and used that cannibalistic butterfly to tear a hole open in his heart.

He stiffened. "You're—"

_Joyd, Joyd, Joyd, _something whispered in the back of his head, the tone escalating each time it repeated the word until it matched the drone of a throaty moan.

"I had to put up with everything the Earl and those midgets said to me because of you," he said and Allen watched with muted horror as his skin suddenly darkened, dyed an ashen gray.

"You want an exit, right? I can give you one," he said as he gingerly pulled the glasses from his face and pocketed them, revealing amber eyes. Allen's eyes narrowed at Joyd as he pushed his hair back, showing off a row of stigmata that stretched across his forehead.

Allen frowned as the man—_Joyd_, the persistent voice in his head reminded him—stuck his tongue out at him. "This ship doesn't have it's own exit anymore, but another can be made through Road's ability."

_My Ark. _

_People shouldn't play with toys that don't belong to them. _

Allen shook his head furiously, trying to clear the thoughts from his head. Tyki tossed the key up and caught it, clenching it in his fist. The door that shot up out of the ground was what brought his focus back; he probably wasn't nearly as shocked as he _should _have been the see the heart-shaped door behind Tyki.

_Road's door, _the same voice whispered to him and Allen startled. As if the owner of the voice was standing just behind him, their breath tickled his ear. He swiveled around to meet their gaze, but found only his friends.

But the voice he kept hearing sounded nothing like any of them.

"That door, lero!"

"Our Road is the only one who can move through space without having to use the Ark. So how about we continue our match, boy? I'll bet my 'exit' against your 'lives'," he said, resting a hand on his hip. "But no cheating this time, boy."

The grim atmosphere was the only thing stopping him from cracking a devious smile. After all, Allen was _very _good at cheating and _usually _good at the most important part of process: Not getting caught. Tyki wasn't someone that was easy to fool, but that's what made it so much fun, right?

The thought gave him pause.

_Fun_? Gambling with his friends' lives wasn't _fun_! Why had something like that even _occurred _to him?

"Wh-what is the meaning of this Lord Tyki, lero?!" the pumpkin cried out, clearly panicking. "L-Lord Millennium will never—"

Tyki ignored him, drowning out Lero's words by starting to explain.

"This is the key that can open Road's door and the three doors that lead to it," Tyki said, twirling the key on his finger. "And you can have it. Think about it."

As he spoke, the key slipped through finger, stopping halfway as he "chose" to touch the key already halfway through his index finger.

"_Not _that you have much time to waste grumbling about it."

As if on cue, a nearby building collapsed. Allen leapt away as the debris landed right where the two of them had been standing. "Joyd!" Allen yelled. He felt his fingers twitch as he watched the dust clear; it was hard to will himself _not _to run over and check on the older man, but he managed. Tyki was still a human at the end of the day and Allen had to worry about another human.

That was all that was, right?

"Th-the building collapsed on top of him!" Crowley yelled, shocked just like the rest of them, even as the ground that was supporting them threatened to split apart.

"Is he dead?!"

_No, _the voice told him. _The power to 'choose'... _

As if in response to Lavi's question, something was thrown to Kanda. The small object that he expertly caught turned out to be the key.

"Hunting for exorcists is pretty fun..." Tyki's voice seemed to echo through the air. Allen quietly released a breath that he hadn't realized he'd been holding in. "The door has been placed at the top of the tallest building. If you get there before it crumbles, you win."

Allen opened his mouth to speak, but immediately snapped his jaw shut when he realized what he was going to say. He was _going _to point out that Noah were _supposedly _immortal, but he remembered what he'd thought just a moment ago: Even the Noah were human. No longer needing to ask the question, Allen realized that a subtle smirk had spread across his face_. _His mouth opened again but like before, Allen stopped himself from speaking. What he had been about to say shocked him.

_That sounds like fun._

It wasn't a game! He wanted to scream at the part of himself that had so much as _thought _that. They were all in danger! How could he think something like that!?

But... maybe they _weren't _his thoughts.

Something about that voice...

His mouth moved of its own accord, like someone else was speaking for him. "_Jo-oyd,_" he sung, sounding entirely unlike himself. Though he couldn't see the Noah, something told him that he was still listening. "Will you be waiting for me at the end?"

"Of course, Boy. I have to finish what I started."

"Oh, good! I can't wait..." he said, his smirk widening. "I can't wait to play with you, _Joyd_." His words were punctuated with a soft, sadistic giggle.

As the words left him, he felt himself gain proper control over his body once again. Something was using his body. For now, it proved relatively harmless, but he was being strung along like a puppet. He was forced to speak when he didn't wish to and made to move where he didn't want to go. Each time he took a step, spoke even the shortest of syllables, he had to wonder if they were really his own. Would whoever was doing this attack his friends? Was it a Noah or...

He didn't have the guts to turn and look his friends in the eyes after the way he'd been acting; he didn't have the guts to see what their faces looked like. But he didn't have to.

As if sensing his predicament, the Ark gave him the distraction he needed to pull himself out of the spotlight. Right beneath his feet, the floor collapsed, the pieces falling as the cracks in the floor finally exceeded their limits.

Kanda cursed loudly. "Run to a safer area!"

Falling, Allen extended his Crown Clown to grab onto the crumbling floor above, pulling himself up and catching Lenalee on the way. "Hang on tight!" he told her, flinging himself back up to the area that was still hanging on, if only by a thread. Carrying Lenalee, he made his way to a safer part of the "town" that hadn't started collapsing yet.

It was probably a miracle that all of their friends made it.

Most of them were bent over, clutching their knees and trying to catch their breaths. Even Lenalee was and she hadn't even had to _run _most of the way like Lavi or Kanda had. Instead, she'd _hitch-hiked_.

"What do we do now..."

"We can't keep running forever," Lavi said, pointing out what was already obvious. The places they could run to were already limited and with each passing minute, they were becoming _more _limited. "If what the Earl said is true, we only have three hours."

"Two hours left, lero!"

"No matter where we turn, we're trapped!"

Allen clicked his tongue. "Useless twits," he muttered, grabbing the attention of the exorcists that stood closest to him, the others likely unable to hear him over the sound of the entire city crumbling in the distance.

"You okay, Allen...?" Lavi asked, casting him a look of what _appeared _to be genuine concern. What a pity. It seemed the Bookman was still terrible at picking apprentices that could actually be _neutral and unbiased_.

"Oh, I'm perfect, Lavi," he said, smiling softly as he quietly stole Road's door key out of Kanda's hand.

"What the hell are you doing, Beansprout?"

"Beansprout? _Really_?" he asked, but didn't bother to give the samurai princess the time of day beyond those two words. Stepping up to the nearest door, he unlocked it without hesitation. In little more than the blink of an eye, the door changed to something bright and colorful; it featured stars, the sun, a rainbow and even a butterfly, all of them like they were drawn by a child. Allen barely blinked, taking in Road's unique tastes with a small hum.

"Allen, that was dangerous!"

Allen cast a look at the speaker: The only female in their merry entourage. "Not particularly."

"But the Noah—"

He rolled his eyes as the started speaking. "The _Noah _enjoy their fun," Allen said firmly. "Why would they cut the game short when we've barely started playing?"

"Playing...?"

He could only nod enthusiastically. "Ending the game early... Well, there's no fun in that, is there?" His words were followed by a short, light-hearted laugh.

Not giving them much of a chance to further question him and wonder why their Goody-Two Shoes Allen was suddenly acting the way he was, he swung the door open and stepped inside and the others scrambled to follow him. Even with his unusual behavior, he was still their "friend", he supposed—in _their_ eyes, at least.

He'd like to say he would disagree with that sentiment.

Allen hummed thoughtfully as he glanced around, taking in the unique landscape. "Interesting," he said dryly.

"This definitely isn't outside..."

Allen scoffed, casting a look at Lavi. Had he not heard a _word _of what he'd said not even a minute ago _or _what Joyd had been saying a little while ago? Allen could only hope that he was playing dumb or the Bookman Clan was in trouble if that was the extent of this apprentice's observational skills.

Ending the game early wasn't fun and the Noah family _lived _for fun, _especially_ when it involved Exorcists. They weren't going to give them a free pass without at least a little entertainment first. Of course, that might mean a couple of people had to die, but that was fine by him!

Kanda hushed them, quietly gesturing to a dark figure lurking just on the horizon, a drawn-in rainbow soaring into the night sky instead of the typical moon. "He's here."

"Well, _thank you_, for informing me, Princess."

The samurai glared at him through the corner of his eye and probably would've normally cut him to pieces where he stood, but something in the samurai's gaze seemed almost... _concerned. _How precious.

"Go on ahead of me," Kanda said, though Allen couldn't feign surprise on good conscious.

The others tried to fight it, the bookman apprentice being shocked and the cripple saying something that he _happily _tuned out. On the other hand, Crowley—in other words, _the only other actual adult_—said very little about it. While those two were trying to convince Princess Kanda to reconsider, Allen had only one response to his request. After all, unlike the better part of their merry little band of morons, _he _had his priorities straight.

"I can do that."

"What are you saying, Allen?!" Lenalee asked him. _Please_, did she have the slightest grasp of the situation they were in? He was here, struggling to understand and piece together memories that were torn and fragmented and even _he _understood that they were on a very strict time regiment and interruptions were _not _advised. "You're not acting like yourself! You haven't been since we entered the Ark!"

Allen was going to retort that he was acting _exactly _like himself, but Lavi felt the need to throw in his two cents before he could so much as open his mouth.

"And it's gotten worse since that Noah gave us that key."

"Oh?" Allen hummed thoughtfully at Lavi's words. Allen barely understood his own circumstances. For now, he was not the same person as Allen Walker; they were unique individuals with different experiences, memories and relationships who happened to be sharing a body. But that would not always be. Allen Walker was his name; it wasn't an alias he'd manufactured. The person that the Exorcists knew was the thing that was manufactured. He was a persona—a false pretense. He wasn't a person at all and he would disappear, as all Allen's aliases did.

"I—"

He stopped, not finishing his sentence. That's right... What was he saying? He couldn't let Kanda stay here on his own! This whole area was going to collapse soon, wasn't it? It'd be downloaded just like everything else on the Ark. Allen could only manage flashing a weak smile at his worried friends.

"I'm not feeling like myself at all, to be honest."

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><p><strong>AN: **Thanks for reading, you guys!


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: **And boom! Here's chapter two! Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter and also to anyone who added the story to favorites or followed it! I hope you like this chapter, as well! I did some minor edits on the first chapter earlier today, but I don't think any of them were big enough that anyone would need to go back and reread anything.

Minor edits done on 01/18/15.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own DGM, obviously.

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><p>There was no time to speak further about Allen's odd behavior or that he didn't understand it himself. The ground beneath them shook, startling all of them.<p>

"An earthquake?!"

"Okay, that proves it! We're still in the Ark!" Lavi yelled as Allen's eyes scanned the area; it remained untouched. Had the area they'd just left collapsed?

The talking pumpkin jumped in to answer Lavi. "Exactly, lero! This is just a room that hasn't been uploaded to the new Ark yet; it'll be gone when it's done, Lero!"

Hearing that, Allen couldn't just simply _go, _even if whatever was controlling him had already volunteered to do just that. "I'll stay, too, Kanda!"

That voice from before spoke to him even now. Its echoing laughter drowned out whatever Lavi had said. _Who cares? All he is is ink on a page. Whether he dies today or tomorrow, no one will remember him. _It taunted him, mocked him, but Allen did what he could to ignore it. He _had _to ignore it. It hurt too much to listen.

Allen didn't want to hear it.

"You guys should go ahead and find the door!" he said, looking to his friends. "We'll catch up!"

"The two of us together? You've _got _to be kidding." Kanda bit the words out, like the very idea of them fighting alongside one another repulsed him.

"Kan—"

Mugen came at him, stopping only a few inches from his face. "I said I'd kill him," Kanda muttered under his breath. Allen flinched as the blade slid past his face and cut several strands of his hair off. "Now get lost, or should I start on you first?"

The rest of their group backed off, Allen lifting his hands and showing his palms to Kanda. It was like he was trying to calm him down. Not that it worked. Kanda outright attacked them and they retreated to a safe location as he called out the name of one of his attacks and swiped his sword at him. While the others berated Kanda for attacking them, Allen was oddly quiet.

"Kanda," Allen started, looking back to the other Exorcist who met his gaze. That one word was effective enough to silence their friends. He was quiet a moment, giving himself time to digest the information collecting in his skull. Where it came from, he didn't know, but it could very well save his friend's life. "The Noah of Wrath... is capable of conducting electricity. If you cut him with your swords, you'll be burned."

Why did he know that? It left Allen feeling gross, like something had _planted _it there. Whoever that little voice in his head belonged to, they weren't simply controlling him. There were too many questions going unanswered. How did he know some of the things that he did? Why was that voice so familiar?

_Don't you know the answer? _It asked, laughing at him. Y_ou do, don't you?_

Deep down, Allen did.

Its laughs became hysterical, bordering maddening. The way it echoed in his head made him want to scream, but he bit it back. He choked it all down so he could pretend nothing was wrong, like he always did. He ignored the splitting pain in his skull like his head was going to crack open. He'd been acting weird enough already_. _Even now, his friends were staring at him, wondering how he knew what he did. Would they hate him if they knew what he was?

He was neither enemy nor ally. Allen Walker was a memory and his curse ran far deeper than the mark on his face.

It was sheer luck that the Noah hadn't overheard them.

"I don't know what you're talking about, but you guys..." the Noah started, flexing his muscles and causing golden armor that reminded him of both lightning and thunder to wrap around him. "...Are noisy."

Whether Kanda had listened to him or not, he wouldn't know. He'd charged off without saying more. Allen barely bothered to yell at him over his shoulder. "Kanda, if you aren't right behind us, I'll make you regret it!"

"Sir Exorcists, there's another building this way!"

They entered it and they didn't look back. Crowley opened the door using the key, letting them through. They found themselves walking down a dark corridor, with little to talk about or do.

His friends kept casting glances at him. There was confusion and worry contained in those glances, but far more existed in Lavi's. It was so plain to see the suspicion that was carefully masked beneath concern that Allen wondered if he'd always been this good at reading people. ... No. The one who was good at reading people was _him._

A deep frown slid down his face, his hardened gaze focusing too much on the floor instead of the way forward. He wore the look of a man who'd seen too much—_done _too much—and his friends didn't fail to take notice.

Allen Walker always smiled. His smile was cruel like the sun, rising no matter how bleak the situation was, but it bathed the world in its constant glow; it gave hope to his friends when they needed it. Now, it was like it was blinking out. It had set, just as the sun did each day.

Lenalee stopped to ask him if he was alright and he did what he could to alleviate her worries, but he could see it in the subtle dip of her eyebrows that she knew better. Just for her, he smiled. His lips curved upwards, but his eyes didn't even make an effort.

Lenalee knew.

They walked down the corridor in silence after that, no one wanting to further mention the ongoing issue of Allen's behavior. They wanted it to disappear, just as Allen did. They hoped it would, but he knew better. It was far too late. He was far too gone and he knew it.

They continued down the hall until Allen stopped, hearing something in the distance behind him. When he turned to look, he saw nothing, but he was sure he'd heard it. The sound of something cracking.

"Is something wrong, Allen?" Crowley asked. Everyone's eyes had been on him for the better part of their walk, so it was only natural that someone would notice he'd come to a dead halt in the middle of the corridor. Allen opened his mouth to respond, but as he did, he noticed something. Gray eyes widened a fraction and something he hadn't intended to say came out of his mouth.

"_Scheisse_!" he blurted the word out before he realized that he didn't even know what it _meant_. It was followed by a hand gesture that felt almost ingrained in him, like he'd done it a thousand times before. He swept his hand out, leapt backwards simultaneously and almost knocked down half his friends that were standing behind him. "_Lehafsik!_"

When he leapt back, Lenalee fell, dragging Crowley down with her when he tried to keep her from hitting the floor. The cracks spreading across the floor towards them came to an abrupt halt.

Surely he wasn't lucky enough for that to put an end to the download.

A moment later, the ground continued to crumble, reduced to a crawl compared to the speed it had been at beforehand. The edge of his lip twitched. "Per_sis_tance," he said with a small laugh. "I've always admired that trait in a woman."

Lenalee's head shot up to stare at him. "Allen, wha—"

"I suggest that you start running," Allen said, barely sparing her a glance before he flipped over the fallen Crowley with ease and continued in the direction they'd been heading, breaking into a sprint. He was a good distance away when the floor's collapse resumed its earlier speed, the cracking sounds picking up again. A man's shrill scream echoed down the halls and Allen couldn't help but snicker. Had they sat there until the ground opened up beneath them?

"Chaoji!"

The voice belonged to Lavi and Allen couldn't help but roll his eyes as he thrust his hand out behind him. This time, tendrils from his cape were sent flying past the group to grab the young man who was little more than dead weight. It was against his better judgment, but he still curiously found himself pulling the boy back to him.

He'd only just grabbed Chaoji's wrist and started pulling him along when an arm grabbed him around the shoulder. He almost jumped, head swiveling around to look at the offender. Suddenly, he was yanked forward, the arm still wound tightly around his shoulder. He hadn't even registered that his personal space had been invaded at all—or, more importantly, who was invading it—before they left the long corridor.

Entering another room that resembled an archive, they were flung to floor. Only Lenalee escaped the fate of hitting the cold, hard tile with far less grace than he would have preferred. Allen cursed as he wrenched himself off the floor, fixing his short, disheveled white locks.

Wait... Tugging at his hair, a small whine of despair escaped him, earning him looks from his companions. Staring down into the reflective tiles that made up the floor, he continued to touch and tousle his white hair. "What did you _do_, Goody Two-Shoes? Who said you could cut it?" He crouched down to get a better look, inspecting a single lock of his hair. "Ahh, what's with this color? It's like dirty snow..."

His lips puckered into a small pout.

"No wonder no one recognizes me..."

He stood up, ignoring the questioning looks of his companions—or trying to, rather. Ignoring people became very difficult when one of them decided to cling to his arm and bat her long eyelashes at him. There were precious few people allowed in his personal bubble without his express permission beforehand and _she _was not one such person. Beneath long, white lashes, he cast her a look of disdain, as if trying to will her to unhand him. It didn't work.

"Allen..." she said, looking him straight in the eye. "You're acting strange again."

"_Strange_?" he repeated before he cracked a smile. "I'm not acting _strange. _I've always been this way. I understand that Goody Two-Shoes was different, but that has little to do with me."

Even though all their gazes were on him, it took a full minute for anyone to open their mouths after he'd spoken those words, as if they were having a hard time processing what he'd said. It was Lavi who finally found the guts to voice the question they'd all been thinking. "Who are you talking about when you say 'Goody Two-Shoes'?"

Allen opened his mouth to answer, but his chance to explain was stolen away by a newcomer appearing in the room—or two newcomers, rather.

"Yo, Exorcists!" A voice from the column in the center of the room demanded there attention. Allen scowled, irritated by their interruption, but didn't even bother to look up at the two intruders. "I'm Devit."

He gestured with his pistol to his blond counterpart. "And I'm Jasdero!"

"And together, we are—"

"Jasdevi," Allen said without even a hint of humor. Like insects, their eyes bugged out. "Really? That's it? I was _guessing."_

He swept a few stay strands of white hair out of his eyes, crossing his arms as he kept his eyes away from them. The assortment of books on the shelves interested him _far _more than these half-wits. "W-Well, aren't you a good guesser, then?!" Jasdero shouted down to him, jumping up from where he was previously lounging with the person Allen could only assume was his brother.

"No, it was just extremely obvious."

Their cheeks puffed up like little balloons. Wouldn't it be amusing if he popped them, too, like he'd done the Earl lookalike earlier? Though there wasn't even a snowball's chance in hell that he'd be _that _lucky.

"Lord Jasdevi, what about your job?!"

"_Shut up," _they said, gesturing their guns at the umbrella as if they were considering shooting him. He'd applaud them if they did, honestly. That pumpkin was grating on his last nerve and it showed no sign or interest in being anything other than a pain in his backside. "Right now, we can't help being pissed off!"

"Allen Walker!" Allen looked at them, but his disinterest only seemed to fuel their already bad mood. "You're annoying and Cross pissed Jasdevi off! So we'll make you pay!"

Allen smirked then. "Oh?" They called out the name of some attack and Allen practically spun out of the way, moving more as if he were dancing than dodging.

"Allen!" He raised a hand and Lenalee went quiet. Dark eyebrows dipped lower, making deep creases on her forehead; it made her far less attractive than she actually was.

"_Do tell, _Jasdevi. Cross has pissed you off, has he? What has he done _this time,_ hm?" They jumped from their place on the column in the center of the room to flank him. His smirk turned into a sinister, teeth-baring grin. They aimed and fired, Crown Cloak wrapping around him like a shield to protect him from the brunt of the attack.

"The student should pay the master's bills!"

As if he couldn't take care of himself, someone from the sidelines called out to him again. He ignored them, more worried about the battle unfolding in front of him than their unnecessary concerns.

Allen raised an eyebrow. "_Stude— _Oh," he said dismally, his face falling as if he'd remembered something unpleasant. That's right. He _was _supposed to be his student, wasn't he? "The two of you must be the ones looking for him, then. I trust that child is fine if you're coming to me instead."

Crown Clown lashed out, sending the two of them crashing into opposite walls. Books fell from the shelves where the twins collided with them. Allen stepped back, nearer to his companions as his trained eyes watched for even the slightest of movements behind the clearing dust.

"Allen!"

Heaving a deep sigh, he glared at the speaker through the corner of his eye. "_Please _stop shouting that before I get tired of hearing it, would you?"

Lavi eyed him. "What's wrong with you, Allen? It's like you're another person entirely." Allen smiled softly, but did what he could to hide the twinge of remorse that he felt. He could feel the bonds that Goody Two-Shoes had formed; he could feel the attachments that he had felt. They melded with his own, mixing together like two different soups poured into the same pot. Put together, they made no sense, yet the damage was already done; there was no reversing it.

"I suppose there's some truth in that."

"Whatever the problem is," Lenalee said, her hands closing over his own. "I'm sure we can get through it together!" He met her gaze and his lips twisted into half a smile. Even if they wereall irrevocable idiots, the part of him that had forgotten everything had made good friends.

He licked his lips tentatively, trying to think of a simple way to explain what was happening to him—to the person that they'd known just a couple of hours ago.

They wouldn't understand, no matter what he said. It was hard enough for _him_ to understand, but to them, he would be the one who'd taken the Allen Walker that they'd known away from them and nothing else.

"This isn't a problem that can simply be fixed, I'm afraid," he said, looking her in the eye. "This isn't 'change'; it's remembrance. My memory was stolen from me. The Allen Walker you knew used my name and filled in the blanks. I'm simply taking back what has always been mine."

"What...?" she asked as he brushed her hands off him. Allen tried to go back to the fight at hand; he tried to ignore her, but she jumped up and grabbed his long, white cloak with both of her hands. "_Allen_!"

He looked away from her and her tear-filled eyes. Annoying little girl didn't know when to sit down and shut her mouth like a good child. The more he explained, the harder it would be for her _and _the rest of her friends. Did she not understand that?

"None of this is any of your conce—" He was cut off when she slapped him across the face. The loud smack echoed off the walls and the whole room fell into a stunned silence.

Who was the last woman who'd had the audacity to slap him like that?

"We're _friends_!" she screamed at him, tears dripping down her cheeks and her face scrunched up, eyes reddening more and more with each passing minute. What was supposed to be a pretty face had been made hideous through her tears. Even the twins had gone quiet at the display and stopped moving, waiting to see what would happen next. Maybe they were wondering if the Exorcists would turn on and kill each other. Now wouldn't _that _be entertaining?

Like something had finally snapped, Allen broke into peels of laughter, stumbling back from the other Exorcists as they stared at him with a mixture of concern, confusion and contempt. They worried because he was their "friend", but they couldn't help resenting him each time he cut one of them down with his words.

He hunched over, tears of mirth threatening to spill over as he collapsed onto his knees. "U-_Us_? _Friends_?" he managed to say between his laughs as he covered his mouth with his long, clawed fingers. When his laughter subsided, he met her gaze and was finally able to acknowledge her and their other companions' shock. "I don't even _know _you."

"What the hell is_ wrong _with you?!" Lavi finally shouted at him, glowering at him with his single green eye.

"_Me_?" he asked incredulously. "I just told you! That boy never existed in the first place! He was a bad patch job on broken memories!"

There was a small silence as they took in what he said, recoiling when he raised his voice at them. He knew what Goody Two-Shoes had been like. Every one of his memories was becoming his own. Had that boy _ever _raised his voice at them?

From memory, it was mostly that samurai princess that he'd yelled at. No wonder they looked at him as though they'd been slapped, even though he was the one with an angry, red mark across his cheek.

"I-I don't understand, are you saying..." The vampire finally spoke up for what seemed to be the first time that afternoon.

"So it _can _speak!"

"So you're not Allen, then?" Lenalee asked, staring at him with those violet-colored eyes of hers. She was confused, scared and probably at lease a little angry; he couldn't blame her. The others bore similar reactions and he couldn't blame them, either. Some of them were sad, others were angry All of them were shocked, but most of all, they didn't know _what_ to think. None of it was easy to explain and it was even harder to understand.

"I _am _Allen, as I have always been. I just remember now is all."

"You remember _what_, exactly?"

The redhead's question was answered with something akin to a smile. Allen said, "Everything. ... Well, maybe not _everything_. It's piecing itself together, like a puzzle. Some of the fragments are missing, but for the most part, everything is coming together. ... It's a little disorienting."

He paused for the shortest of moments and when he continued, he was speaking another language. "I'll explain later."

"What language is that?" Chaoji asked, but Allen didn't answer, nor did he look at him. Even if the others stared at him in confusion, the person he _was_ speaking to had the opposite reaction. A single green eye widened and his mouth fell open, but Lavi was quick to hide the signs that he'd known exactly what Allen had said. The redheaded nodded and Allen found his lips tilting upwards in a subtle smile. At the very least, this understudy was smart enough to know when to shut the hell up and stop asking so many damn questions.

"Well!" He turned back to the twins who hadn't attacked them for some reason. Curiosity, most likely. "Thank you for waiting so patiently, you two! As a _reward_... Well, I'd like to stay and play with you for a little while, but I'm quite anxious to see Joyd again—and teach him a little respect after what he did earlier." He huffed, remembering the man slamming their foreheads together.

It had been a rejection, as far as Allen was concerned and he didn't take rejection well at all. Anyone who knew him could confirm that. Of course, most of the people heknew were _dead _or otherwise unreachable, but that was irrelevant in the larger scheme of things. Nobody was asking for confirmation, anyways.

Once the words were out of his mouth, he found two guns shoved in his face. Anyone else would've been surprised, but him? No, this was exactly the type of behavior that he'd expect from brats like these two. It was such a shame. After waiting so long for the Exorcists to finish gabbing, he was _starting _to think they might actually have _manners._

His smile widened and a soft hum escaped his throat.

They pulled their triggers in unison and Allen could hear the faint click of an unloaded gun being fired. "Purple bomb!"

The explosion went off in his face, but there was no pain. He coughed once, then twice, then a third time before the purple smoke finally cleared. The twins were nowhere to be found.

"A-are you okay, A— Um..." Lenalee started to ask, but stopped when she started to say his name, her hand freezing halfway to grabbing his arm. It was sweet, seeing how much these people cared for Goody Two-Shoes, but he couldn't dwell on it; he had a duty to adhere to and his own attachments were woven far deeper into his heart than the lingering feelings that Goody Two-Shoes had left him with. Even if he _hadn't _wanted to take it all away from the boy, it wasn't as if he had a choice. His memories were piecing back together on their own and there was nothing he could do about it short of shattering them again. Not that that would do either of them any good.

Clicking his tongue with annoyance, he glanced back at the small entourage of Exorcists, examining the purple markings now present on their faces. "You've got something on your face there, Ravioli."

"... Ravioli?"

"That's your name, isn't it?"

"It's _Lavi_."

Congratulations on receiving a nickname as equally stupid as 'Beansprout'. "_Lavi_oli, you've got something on you're face there." The redhead sighed in response and Allen couldn't help but be a little disappointed by the boring reaction.

"Yeah, well, so do you."

Allen looked down into the reflective surface that was the floor and his own face greeted him. He was right. As if the one scar wasn't enough, he had something like a mask imprinted over his face. Whatever it was supposed to do, it was ugly as hell and he was already eager to be rid of it.

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><p><strong>AN: **Hope you enjoyed!


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: **I'm glad to see you guys are enjoying so far! This chapter's a teeny bit shorter than the first two, so sorry in advance! I did want to reply to one review that was anonymous before we get started with the chapter, though.

To Boooop: I really don't feel like I'm slamming Lenalee. She doesn't get poked fun of much more than the other characters, with the exception of the hideous and unattractive comments, which both referred to the expression she was making and not how she actually looks. I edited the last chapter a bit to try and show that better and tried to write this chapter in a way that showed that a little better! As for Allen, no, he won't be getting all blushy and shy. I feel like that kind of interpretation definitely has its place, but it won't be here.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own DGM, obviously.

Minor edits done on 02/08/2015.

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><p>It was Crowley who voiced his shock first, touching his face where the mask had appeared. "Wh-what is this?"<p>

"Deceiving Glasses," one of the twins said, their disembodied, unified voices becoming a distant reverberation against the walls. Allen pulled on a tight-lipped smile as they tried to speak through their laughter. "Y-you can't see us a-anymore!"

"My, my," he said, touching his pocket where the key _should_ have been, only to find it absent. The floor was covered in duplicates that were almost identical in every way and Allen knelt, picking one up and rolling it over in his hand. The more he studied it, the more obvious it became that the duplicate was simply too perfect. The edges were too smooth and the surface was devoid of all the familiar blemishes that were supposed to be there. "What a nasty trick," he said, dropping the key unceremoniously.

"What's with this mountain of keys?! They look just like ours!"

Lavi cursed and turned his single green eye to look at the one who was _supposed _to have their key. He opened his mouth to speak, but Allen beat him to the punch. "Ours is likely just laying on the floor somewhere."

"Damn! We can't see our opponents _or_ our key! Aren't we in trouble?!" Lavi yelled as the group backed up to Allen, forming a small circle around their two defenseless charges. "What the hell is their ability?!"

"If you wanted to know that, why didn't you ask?"

Everyone cast their curious gazes on him. "The Noah of Bonds has the ability to 'materialize'. When they think of something simultaneously, they can bring it to life. Like their ammunition or this mountain of keys, for example."

Jasdero squeaked, his voice bouncing off the walls. "What?! How'd you know, huh?!"

Allen laughed, tapping a long, clawed finger to his chin thoughtfully. "Have you already forgotten how spectacular I am at making guesses?"

"Yeah, right!" They spoke in unison, the words leaking from their lips like a venomous poison. Allen couldn't help smirking. "Just die already!" they screamed and without further warning, fireballs appeared around them in the blink of an eye, forming a perfect circle and boxing them in. Lavi let out a loud curse, but the expression on Allen's face never changed. With a simple hum, he grabbed the person standing nearest to him and leapt high into the air as the fireballs crashed into each other where they had once been standing.

"Lavi! Crowley!" Lenalee screamed back at them as the two of them soared into the air. Lavi burst through the flames on one side, then Crowley on the other, carrying a bundle of joy that was screaming its head off. Funny, he didn't remember anyone else being there... "A-Allen, why didn't you help Chaoji, too?" Lenalee asked him as she tore her eyes away from whoever it was that had gotten hurt.

"Who?"

"_Chaoji_!" As if to emphasize who she was referring to, she pointed in Crowley's direction and Allen finally saw the aforementioned bundle of joy was actually a young man—and indeed, he could vaguely recall him now.

"Oh," Allen said, bored tone only serving to further irritate the young lady he was holding onto, his imperfect arm coiled around her waist. "I forgot he was here."

Her mouth fell open in disbelief, but was it _really _so shocking? Someone so insignificant was easy to forget, especially when he wasn't half as annoying as some of his _other _companions. He was easily the most useless and forgettable person of the bunch.

Allowing gravity to pull him back down to earth, he landed gracefully on the tile and released his female companion when they were back on the ground once more.

"I'd love to play with the two of you, _really_, but..." he said, pausing only to glance around the room. "I'm a very busy man, you know; you'll have to make an appointment."

A sickeningly sweet smile spread across his face as the twins yelled at him. "No way! It's not going to be that easy."

"Isn't it, though?" He stepped forward, moving away from his companions and closer to the center of the room. "Crowley!" he yelled to the vampire, his gray eyes meeting the other man's sharp, cat-like ones. "I trust you can protect them while Lavioli and I deal with this?"

At the mention of his terrible nickname, Lavi perked up. Allen said nothing, merely gesturing for him to follow as he jumped up on the platform. He seemed to understand, but the single, green eye boring into him told him that even if he _knew_ why, he didn't really under_stand_.

"Wood seal," Lavi said under his breath. The seals appearing on the ground wrapped around the monument in a circle with it at its center and a gust of wind rushed around them, lifting the keys off the ground and pulling them into a steadily growing sphere overhead. The sphere descended on them as the remaining keys were picked up by the wind, opening up around the top of the monument and obscuring them from the view of the others.

"Let's see..."

He hummed softly as his gaze traced over each of the keys, searching for the right one. He looked for the one that bore the same blemishes and discolorations of the original while Lavi stood at his back, doing just the same.

"How about a game, Lavi?"

"A game?" Lavi's head turned slightly to address him, but he didn't dare take his eye off the keys spinning around them. Allen gave a short nod, his perpetual smile turning mischievous.

"Whoever finds the key first gets to ask one question. Just one," he said, holding up his index finger for emphasis, though Lavi didn't bother to look anyways. "I'm sure you have many questions for me and I have several that I think you could answer for me."

There was a short silence as the two of them continued searching for the key with only their eyes before Lavi finally answered, grinning, "You're on."

Allen barely spared Lavi a glance, a competitive glint in his eyes as he threw every effort he had into finding the key. Maybe a minute of this passed—_maybe_—before one caught his eye. Without speaking a word or even twitching his fingers, his cape shot out towards it. As the key passed him and into Lavi's line of sight, the key also caught _his_ eye. Lavi started towards it and Allen shoved him out of the way, the white fabric of his cloak taking hold of the key just before Lavi's fingers could brush against its chipped paint. Pulling it back to him, he let out a scream of pure joy as he spun around with the key in hand.

"I _won_!" he yelled, bubbly laughter escaping his throat as he spun in another circle. Lavi cast him a look of exasperation from where he'd ended up sprawled out across the top of monument, after Allen had shoved him aside.

Humming softly, he pressed the key to his chin as he thought. What could he ask Lavi? What _intel _could he get from him with this one little question? … Ah!

"Tell me, Lavioli," he said, crouching down to look Lavi in his one eye. The smile that he wore so often slipped off his face, becoming a deep frown as he asked with far more emotion than he liked, "What does the Order know of Mana?"

"Mana?" Lavi asked as he stood, the keys disappearing into the very monument they were on top of. It only barely registered that it was almost certainly the next door. He was dealing with something of far greater importance, after all. What had happened to that boy after Allen's supposed death?

"_If it's to save you, I'll—"_

What was it that Mana had done to save him?

What was it? Goody Two-Shoes had known him, yet Mana had been... different. It was to be expected after Neah's death, but there was more to it than that. Something had been well and truly off about him.

"Mana..." Lavi repeated, red eyebrows shooting up in a mixture of intrigue and confusion. "Is that an Exorcist, or...?"

"You don't know him?"

Allen couldn't hide the disappointment in his voice. Even considering his occupation, there were several people who meant the world to him and when it came to them, it was far too much of an effort to hide his chaotic emotions.

Lavi shook his head and the confusion etched in the depths of his single green eye only seemed to grow. Slowly, Allen nodded, muttering a quiet, "Thank you, anyways." He could see it in Lavi's face that he was surprised to see the stark difference between the Allen that he'd been speaking to mere moments ago and the one that he was talking to now.

He was quiet, almost subdued. But the peculiarities in his behavior disappeared as quickly as they had come. There were things that he couldn't show to just anyone and emotions were one such thing, though at least Lavi could be somewhat of an exception.

He turned just in time to see Jasdevi go flying into the bookshelf. He clapped. "Well done, Chowley!" The two of them leapt down to rejoin the group as he spoke.

"... Chowley?"

"Is that not your name?"

"I am Alistair Crowley. The third."

"Oh," he said with a slight hum, choosing not to mention that he'd known an Alistair Crowley years before. The man had been... eccentric, to say the least. A sweet smile broke out across Allen's face. "Close enough!"

He could see a black eyebrow faintly twitching. "You're almost as bad as _those_ brats."

Ignoring the Exorcist, he turned his gray eyes to the woman that had apparently gotten herself captured by those two. She was stuck in something that looked like a glass orb. Now _how _had she managed that? Her own dark eyes turned back to the wall where Jasdevi had hit and his gaze followed hers.

Two hands rose up from that spot, one being Jasdero's and the other being David's. "Brats... Brats... You're really making fun of us? If you want to end the game, Student, we will. We'll seriously kill you." They stood, pulled to their feet simultaneously like a pair of puppets on the same set of strings.

"We'll stop playing and we'll kill you...!"

Gray eyes narrowed at the two of them, their backs turned to he and his companions. "The air is getting heavier," he muttered, eying the two of them. It was likely that they were going to take on their "true form" now. That was the very definition of the "Noah Of Bonds". One person who became two.

"Whether or not you're truly Allen, you seem interested in keeping us safe. Hurry and get Lenalee out of here."

"I'm not interested in protecting anyone," Allen said flatly, not looking away from the twins. He smiled. "We happen to be going the same way is all. You need to get out of here and I need to find Joyd." He could feel Crowley's black eyes on him, studying him. He could feel the heat of them, wavering with uncertainty, as if they still didn't know what to think of him. Allen scoffed. They needed to figure it out sooner rather than later because this little affair of theirs wasn't going to last long.

They'd have to figure it out. They have no choice in the matter since the Allen that they knew wasn't coming back.

His words were a bit of a lie, however. There _was _another reason for sticking with them. He lifted his hand, patting the redhead standing relatively close to him on the head before saying, "My only _other_ concern is getting this brat out of here." It was an awkward gesture, considering which of them was taller, but his height was irrelevant as age and experience was more important—and Allen was definitely older and more experienced.

Lavi slapped his hand away, earning him a frown from his white-haired senior. "Who the hell are you? And how is that you know that language from earlier?!"

Allen couldn't help but laugh. Why would he ask such a _dumb_ question? Was the answer not obvious? Was it not _easy_ enough for him? Did he have to spell out everything for these half-wits? His smile never left his face. "Perhaps later, little one."

The redhead didn't even have time to flash him a look of exasperation before Allen gestured for him to turn his attention back to the twins just as they started singing. Never had Allen heard the song, so he was sure that it was something they had put together on their own. It told a story of who they were and how they came to be and as it drew to a close, they fired, their guns poised at each other's heads.

"They shot each other?!" Lenalee cried out, watching as their shadows distorted and pooled together. She gasped, covering her mouth with a delicate hand. "Their shadows are—"

"Yes, yes, they're merging," Allen said, waving off her concerns as he lazily broke her flexible glass prison with a simple tap of his long claw. It popped like a bubble and she tumbled to the ground, startled by the sudden loss of what she'd been sitting in. "Are you an Exorcist, or are you just here to point out the obvious?" Well, it was more of a contribution than that sailor boy—What was his name again? Chewy?—was making, at least. Gray eyes flicked up to look at the shadow forming in the air above them. "_Move_!"

He spoke a little too late and watched Crowley get grabbed by his cape and thrown off in the direction of the wall of books standing far behind him. Crowley crashed into the wall, blood splattering across the shelves and the books that were stored on them. Standing between them and their companion was an unfamiliar blond, but Allen had a _very good _idea about who the person was.

"Who is—"

"It's Jasdevi, you damn understudy!"

"You're good, Student!" the newly-formed Noah said, laughing. "_Too _good, actually. But from how you guys keep talking, I guess you're not actually 'Allen', huh?"

Unable to contain himself, he let out a laugh. When they all looked at him with such utter_ confusion_—even the Noah!—it only made him laugh _harder_. "Please, who even _knows _Allen Walker anymore? Nearly everyone that I knew growing up is dead—or close enough, anyways."

"What the hell are you going on about?" Oh, Lavioli. Why was it that that boy felt the need to ask so many unnecessary questions, even when so many others were present? He was _far _too caught up in the affairs of these Exorcists, just as Allen had been with the Noah thirty-five years ago.

It was their Master's curse, it seemed.

"If you're Allen," Lenalee asked, violet eyes looking up at him tearfully. "Then what happened to _our _Allen?!"

Gray eyes looked back at her, his expression devoid of any discernible emotion.

"We're the same person, Lenalee. Allen's experiences and feelings belong to me now," he said, allowing his gaze to turn back to Jasdevi when the first tears dripped down her cheeks. "I'm not like the Allen you knew. I'm not an Exorcist; I'm not supposed to get involved in this holy war."

He graced her with a soft smile. "But I'm like all people. I crave human contact in some form. Once upon a time, I had friends and a lover where I should not have. I even care about all of you, to some extent, all because of that Goody-Two Shoes. … Of course, my own friends will take precedence."

Something caught his eye, then. Far behind the blond Noah, he saw movement.

"By the way, Jasdevi, that—" He cut himself off when the vampire's fist connected with the back of the Noah's head, Jasdevi stumbling at the unexpected contact. Goodness, it looked as though Jasdevi had been so absorbed in his personal story that an Exorcist had managed to creep up behind him. How sad. "Oops," Allen said innocently, covering his mouth with his hand. "I tried to tell you."

Lavi gave him a dull look, the friendly demeanor he'd treated Allen and the others to was long gone—at least it was when his attention was directed at _him_. It was a damn shame, too; it was rather charming. Or it _would _be, if it wasn't all some facade.

But pretending to be someone elsewas half the fun, Allen reminded himself.

"Th-the vampire?!" Jasdevi asked as he leapt away and out of his range, rubbing the back of his head where Chowley had hit him.

"I..." Chowley paused to take a deep breath. "Am not a vampire. I am Alistair Crowley! Don't call me a vampire!"

Allen was about to say just that, that was what he was—or the closest there would ever be, anyways—but something stopped him. No doubt it was those pesky, lingering feelings that belonged to Goody Two-Shoes. He clicked his tongue. Once upon a time, he'd been good at staying detached. When he'd joined the Noah, that had changed; he'd gotten together with the former Noah of Pleasure, met his childhood friend Road and towards the end, he befriended the Campbell brothers. What was happening here was different, though. It was harder to ignore and impossible to avoid.

Jasdevi only waved his words off, as if they were nothing. "That's just how we see it."

Crowley was swaying on his feet and whether he was deliberately ignoring Jasdevi or hadn't heard him, Allen couldn't say. Instead, he grabbed him by the arm before the smallest of breezes could tip him over. Lavi dashed over to meet them, their two charges completely forgotten in favor of the injured man. Of course, Chewy was hurt as well, but his scorched back was as irrelevant as he was.

Allen's hand moved to the Exorcist's back, intending to steady him but instead covering his hand in a sticky and familiar wetness. Blood. "You're badly injured," he said, narrowing his eyes. It was impressive that he was still up walking around. Most people would've collapsed by now, if they'd even gotten back up in the first place.

"I am... alright..."

He cursed under his breath; he cursed these damn idiot Exorcists who overlooked their own injuries, all to protect someone else. Then again, Allen had nearly died thirty-five years ago. Wasn't that to protect Joyd? Hadn't he been trying to protect the whole Noah family?

With his free hand, he touched his own left arm near the shoulder. Previously, when he couldn't yet remember, there had been an obvious division on his arm. There had been his flesh, then like a line had been drawn across his skin, there was Innocence. It had been perfectly separated. Now, it was integrated into his arm like it had always been a part of him.

In spite of that, he could remember the pain of the injury that had led to it taking that form in the first place. If he were to be honest, it would be far harder to forget it.

"How many bottles of Chomesuke's blood do you have left?"

"Three," Chowley wheezed, forcing the words out. Lavi's single green eye turned to the door to the next room and it didn't take a genius to figure out what he was thinking. They had to end this—quickly—or they would all suffer the consequences.

"You won't get away." Jasdevi's soft laughter echoed off the walls as he thrust his hands forward. "Because I will kill every single one of you!"


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: **Hi guys! It's been a few weeks, so sorry for the wait! I wanted to get this out a couple of days ago, but it took longer to edit than I would've liked and it wasn't cooperating very well to begin with. Regardless, here's chapter four! I hope you enjoy!

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><p>Allen yelped when a blast of wind sent him careening in the opposite direction and he collided with the bookcase on the far end of the room, a rough cough tearing from his throat as the dust from the books filled his lungs. As if that wasn't enough, he let out a loud curse when a book from a shelf above him teetered off and whacked him on the head.<p>

"Flame Seal!"

Lavi's distinct voice reverberated from the other side of the room and the spot Allen had been standing in mere moments ago erupted with flame, like the air itself had set ablaze. With a click of his tongue, he fixed his disheveled hair, though he was sure that touching it did more harm than good.

"Now... Jasdevi is the imaginary strongest body that we materialized!"

The Noah's shrill laughter was like nails grating on a chalkboard and Allen winced at the mere sound of it. It was a good thing they hadn't been reincarnated as the Musician; he'd feel sorry for the Noah if that was the case. When he looked up to observe the battlefield, he saw Jasdevi seated atop Lavi's hammer. He sat there with his one leg crossed over the other, lecturing Lavi about something as Allen picked himself up from the debris. He charged and Jasdevi leapt away as Allen made to slice him. Not that he was intending to make contact, anyways; he just didn't want them smashing Lavi's face into the tile—or worse. That old goat would never let him hear the end of it if he allowed that.

When Jasdevi jumped away, Crowley latched onto and restrained him.

"Listen! I don't know whether you're Allen or someone else—"

"I'm Allen, but thank you for asking."

"—But you and Lavi take Lenalee and Chaoji and get through the door!"

Allen's mouth fell open, the minor transgression completely forgotten. What was this idiot saying?

The Noah let out an unearthly screech, attacking him and trying to break the hold the other man had on him. "Go!" Crowley bid them and Allen's lips drew themselves into a fine, neutral line.

As if trying to force them into an ultimatum, the Ark's collapse caught up to them once more and the floor broke off into sections. Allen grit his teeth.

"Allen! Lavi! Hurry up! This room has reached its limits! We can't... let anyone stay here any longer!"

Allen wanted to say that he would leave with no questions asked. In truth, he should've been fine with that. He had abandoned more people than he could count and never had he felt a lick of remorse for it. Running like hell was an occupational requirement sometimes, especially when his life was at stake and very few things were more important than self-perseverance in this line of work. They were few, but they still existed and the attachments that Goody Two-Shoes had made didn't seem to be helping his already bad track record.

Even a single attachment was too many; his master had said as much often enough that it wouldn't have surprised him if he had woken up one morning to find it tattooed on his forehead. Maybe that was why Lavi wore the bandanna.

It was unfortunate. Maybe if his master _had_ tattooed it to his forehead, he wouldn't have gotten himself into this situation. Once something got under your skin, it became like a pimple. It lay just beneath the surface, perfectly visible and capable of scarring, if not cared for properly. Allen had found out the hard way that true friendships and love were hard to let go of.

He'd gotten attached to the Noah Of Pleasure—to Joyd—and the human who happened to be his previous host.

It was the pain of those attachments that let caused Allen to snap back at Crowley.

"Are you an idiot?! There's no way you can—"

"Just hurry up and go!"

"You're _wounded_, you—"

He cut himself before Crowley could even open his mouth to do so. That was why. That was why he wanted them to go. Crowley screamed at them, confirming what was obvious. Allen bit his lip.

"With a wound like this, I won't be able to fight anymore and if there's an enemy in the next room, who will protect Lenalee and Chaoji?!"

Allen's stormy gray eyes turned to look at the two in question. Common sense told him not to bother. _Dead weight_, his head told him. That was all they were, contributing next to nothing, yet it was the heart he shouldn't even have that told him otherwise. His heart was what told him that even if Lenalee struggled to walk at times, there was purpose in her existence.

Something told him that even if history would forget her in a heartbeat, he wouldn't.

"There's no one else I can believe in! I'm telling you to go!"

At the end of the day, he was a survivalist. What he had ultimately dedicated his life to—what he'd renounced his goddamn _name _for—made that necessary. Saying he'd never strayed from what that dedication would be a lie and even though survival was a part of it, Allen found his lip bleeding from where he'd been biting down on it.

Alistair Crowley was a stupid, noble fool.

"I believe in you! Now go!"

Before him, light erupted from the floor as the cracks in the floor opened up. In that split second, their eyes met and he was startled by what he saw there.

Laid deep in those black eyes was trust. He trusted the one person in the world that had apparently wiped one of his friend's from existence, or perhaps he trusted Goody Two-Shoes and thought Allen might be so inclined to toe the line between what _he_ would do and what that Exorcist would do.

The blood from his lip dripped down his chin and he wiped it away with the back of his gloved right hand.

* * *

><p>"Crowley!"<p>

"Lord Exorcist!"

"... _Crowley_!"

That samurai princess had done the same thing. He wanted to say that it was an Exorcist thing, but it wasn't, was it?

"_I'll buy you some time, Mana."_

It was he who grabbed their only female companion and pulled her through the door, while his understudy worried about their other hindrance.

"Crowley!" She cried out, trying to push her way out of his grasp as they passed through the entrance of the door. "He's hurt! We have to go back!"

"Lenalee."

"Let me go! You're not Allen at all! He wouldn't do this!"

"_Lenalee!_" He roared the word and it echoed through the empty space, but she persisted.

"If we don't go back, Crowley will—"

His open palm collided with her face and she fell silent. Her ferocious glare still bore holes in him as her violet eyes swelled with fresh tears that didn't stem from the pain of being slapped. Grabbing her by the shoulders, he pulled her away from him and put an acceptable distance between them, but his hands stayed firmly on her shoulders. "It's going to be fine, you twit."

He didn't smile. Instead, there was a sharp downward dip in the edges of his lips and the wound on his bottom lip still caused blood to trickle down his chin. "I'm not the Allen that you know, no, but I'm perfectly aware that he cared a lot about all of you and..."

Trailing off, his eyes softened. What had once been a harsh, stony glare was replaced by something that was uncharacteristic for the person he'd shown to be thus far.

"If Crowley can survive that battle long enough for that room to collapse, I'm not sure where he'll go, but he won't disappear. If we can restore the Ark before it finishes collapsing, then all they'll need is for their wounds to be treated."

"We—we can restore the Ark?"

"_You _can't," Allen said, licking his lips as he wondered if he should even be telling her this. While Goody Two-Shoes Allen might've been an Exorcist, _he _wasn't. He had no obligations, yet something was pushing him to do this. "But _I _can."

"Y-You can...?"

The tears glistening in her eyes nearly fell and he gave her a halfhearted glare. "I'm sick of you crying," he said, but there was no heat behind his words. It was like he didn't even care anymore.

"Don't worry about this jerk," Lavi said out of the blue, pushing Allen's face aside to make room for his own in front of Lenalee. He was leaning over his shoulder and Allen's eyebrow twitched at the uninvited contact. "Crow's still carrying the three bottles of Akuma blood he got from Chomesuke, you know? If anyone can do it, it's that guy!"

Despite himself, Allen laughed and three pairs of eyes looked at him. "You have to keep believing, right? If not in him, then his Innocence."

"What do you mean?"

When he was asked for an explanation, a small smile spread across his face and his eyes lit up. "Innocence has a will, you know. It had desires and goals. It will do insane things to protect itself and its chosen Accomodator. I've seen Innocence repair internal wounds that would have been fatal and replace whole limbs."

"So give him and his Innocence a little more credit before you count them out."

* * *

><p>They had been walking for a while, climbing up the spiral staircase that led to the top floor. It crisscrossed with other stairs, though Allen couldn't say off the top of his head where they originated from or led to. The Ark was a maze, after all.<p>

Lavi held onto Lenalee's hand, helping her climb each step and making sure to never get more than a few paces ahead of her. Even though she was breathing hard and Allen was positive all of them could hear it, she didn't stop moving. Already she was slowing them down, but it was the strength left in her that made her keep trying. Not that they'd be moving at the speed of light, anyways, considering the burn on Chewy's back.

"Are you okay, Lenalee?" Lavi asked as she struggled with another step.

Allen eyed her with curiosity. The bandages hiding the marks on her legs wrapped nearly all the way up to her mid-thigh and her synchronization rate had to be dangerously low. He tilted his head slightly to the side. "You're in pain, aren't you?"

"I'm fine, I can walk," she said, donning a smile in spite of her flushed cheeks and the bead of sweat rolling down the side of her face. "You've been pulling me along all this time, though, Lavi; I can't exact be all high and mighty about it..."

"Aptly put."

"I don't mind!" Lavi replied, his practiced, trademark grin spreading across his face with ease. It was wide and showed off his teeth, but the disgusted noise that Allen made caught everyone off guard.

What was more jarring was his comment.

"Good _God_, is that a piece of _cabbage _stuck in your teeth?" He said, covering his mouth and turning away like he was going to puke. There went his faith in humanity. Goodbye table manners. It's like they were planning on _laughing _the Noah family right out of the Ark.

Lavi, on the other hand, did little to ease his pain. "Maybe?"

"You don't know what it is?!"

"You've eaten since we left the ship, Sir Exorcist?" This time it was their resident useless twit—Chewy—that spoke. It was a good question, one that Allen was almost dying to know the answer to. At the same time, he was a little scared to know. For good reason, too, he realized when Lavi shook his head, his eyes widened in absolute _horror._

An anguished whine escaped his pale lips.

"Are you saying... _that you've had that in your teeth the __**entire time**_?!"

The gentle upward curve of Lavi's eyebrow didn't surprise him as he covered his gray eyes with his hands. "Aren't you overreacting just a little, Allen?"

"How did that old goat get stuck with someone like you?" he groaned, wanting nothing more than to jump off the staircase he was standing on, straight into the abyss below. How had _this_ child been elected his replacement? Where had the old goat even _found _him? It was like he'd been raised in a gutter.

Lavi opened his mouth to retort, but got no further when the strangely quiet fourth member of their party finally spoke. "I have to keep trying!" she said, looking up with so much conviction in her eyes that Allen would dare say she would've stolen his heart if someone hadn't already beaten her to it.

"'Keep trying'?" Lavi repeated, the three men of their small group staring at her.

"So you are straining your legs, then."

"N-no! I was just thinking that when I got back to headquarters, I'd have to do some basic training!" she said, trying to throw them off with a laugh, not that anyone was buying it.

"What are you thinking about right now, Lena?!" Lavi said, crouching down in front of here. "Here! I'll give you a piggyback!"

The two of them went back and forth for several minutes, arguing like an old married couple before Allen finally grew sick to his stomach and knocked Lavioli over with his foot.

"Ouch, that hurt..."

"Keep whining and I'll kick you off the stairs next time."

Lavi scowled at him, but otherwise paid little attention to what he'd said. Instead, he continued, "Hey... Maybe it's none of my business, but Al— Uh, I know you said your name was Allen, but..."

Although he trailed off, Allen was well aware of what he was going to say. Allen to them was the Goody Two-Shoes that he'd erased; they wanted to call him something else. They wanted to differentiate him from their friend. It was fine, he supposed; he wasn't used to being called that, anyways.

"I suppose you can call me Junior."

"Junior?"

Allen simply nodded. "Road started calling me that once and it stuck," he said, waving a hand as if to dismiss the fact that he'd just said a _Noah_ had given him a nickname. It was an easy concept for him, but that was because he'd spent a lot of time with the Noah family. _Business _and all.

Lavi was quick to let the small detail slide and the other two didn't bother asking. In the short time that he'd _personally _known him, it seemed as though he was the type to question everything, even when the timing was inappropriate. Considering he'd promised to explain later, maybe he'd decided to stop pestering him for information when so many others were around to benefit off of it.

"Uh, okay, anyways..." Lavi said, moving on without much hesitation. "_Junior_, what're you gonna do when we get back?"

Allen hummed softly as he mulled over his answer. While he already knew what it would be, how he said it was important and he settled for being blunt; it wasn't like he had made the best effort in hiding who he was loyal to.

"I'm not."

His words were flat and devoid of emotion; it was like he didn't care—and he didn't. Something in his chest twisted when the violet-eyed young Exorcist cast him a hurt look. Her eyes were wide like he'd trampled all over her heart, but he was too deeply interwoven with the wrong people to get involved with the Exorcists. Even if that wasn't the case, it simply wasn't practical for him to be there.

"What?"

"I'm not going back."

"_Why?_"

Dull gray eyes narrowed as they looked to the redheaded apprentice. Oh, poor Lavi, was he really that dim?

"There's no such thing as two Bookmen being involved with the same organization at the same time; it's not practical. If anything, it introduces more bias."

Lenalee spoke this time. "What does that have to do with you, Junior?"

"If it had nothing to do with me, I wouldn't have said it, now would I have?" he asked, watching Lavi's mouth fall open. Had he caught on? Did he realize what he was saying or was he going to have to break out a sign with bright, pretty, sparkling lights to get his point across?

Really, why would he be talking about Bookmen if he wasn't one?

His single green eye went wide with shock.

"There's no way you're a Bookman!"

It was Lenalee's turn to stare. She looked as though she wanted to ask something or voice her own disbelief, but whether she was so stunned she couldn't put words together or was simply smart enough to keep it to herself, Allen couldn't say.

"And why is that, exactly, Lavioli?"

"I've been his apprentice for a long time and he'd never even mentioned you! And you're _younger _than me!"

One of Allen's pure white eyebrows rose up, disappearing behind his long bangs. _Younger_. Allen wanted to laugh. How old was he, _eighteen_? "Lavioli, I'm—" he paused as what year it was registered in his head. Thirty five years ago, Neah had died.

Thirty five years ago, Allen had already been an adult. In what felt like an instant to him, thirty-five years had been swept away from him.

Oh, _god_.

He was knocking on sixty.

His jaw nearly came unhinged at that thought. For a moment, his brain ceased all functioning. Sooner rather than later, he'd be as old as the old goat and he wouldn't be able to call him that anymore. He laughed without even a hint of humor, a bright smile hiding his comical despair—it wasn't the end of the world and his body was youthful enough that it didn't even matter, but it was _unsettling, _if nothing else. "Nevermind what I was saying! Come, we have much to do, don't we? Yes, of course we do! Up the stairs we go!"

He ushered them up the stairs to no avail. Even walking ahead didn't seem to do the trick. So much life had passed him by, but he was obviously younger than he had been thirty-five years ago. Close to a full decade younger, in fact.

No matter how much he tried to remember what had caused something as blatantly _impossible_ as this, he couldn't think of a thing. Was there anyone with this kind of power besides the Earl himself? Would the Earl have saved him?

No, not the old one, perhaps, but maybe...

"Oh _no_," Lavi said, grabbing him by that long, flowing cloak of his and pulling him back with enough force to knock him to the ground—but only because he was startled by the redhead's actions, of course. The sudden attack jarred him from his reverie and Allen glowered up at him, his eyes glinting dangerously in the Ark's unnatural lighting. "You're not getting off easy this time. Every time you start to explain, _something_ manages to interrupt you. I don't care if you were going to tell me later. Yuu and Crow put themselves in danger to get us here and I think Lenalee deserved to know, don't you?!"

From where he'd landed on the ground, his right hand balled into a fist so tight that his knuckles turned sheet white. His mouth opened wide and he yelled, "_No_, I don't!"

Lavi opened his mouth to scream back at him, but Allen didn't give him a chance. He continued, this time in the same foreign language as before. "We don't discuss history with outsiders!"

Lavi recoiled, as if struck.

That's right. Think about that.

Allen would admit to having relations where he shouldn't have. People were only supposed to be ink on a page to him, yet he genuinely and deeply cared for some of them. But he had never been _this_ bad. He'd kept the secrets that he was supposed to; he hadn't given the Noah more than was reasonable.

A part of him wanted to tell them what had happened to him, even if a few bits and pieces hadn't quite been put back together in his head and some seemed to be missing altogether. A byproduct of his memories being broken apart, no doubt. It was like he wanted to talk about it to reaffirm anything had happened at all. He _wanted _that night to be some horrific dream. Even though he knew it wasn't, there was some small part of him praying that he'd walk into the piano room and Neah would greet him as he usually did.

Funny that their age difference had been two years shy of a decade, yet they'd been the best of friends. Allen had thought that he would be the one to throw it all away one day—that he'd be forced to, because of his duty as a Bookman, even though he'd stayed with the Noah for longer than necessary following the end of his apprenticeship.

To say he was surprised when Neah was the one to throw it all away would be a gross understatement.

Going off on a tangent about everything that had happened to him wasn't an option. Confiding in the Exorcists about the hundred and one things he didn't know if he'd _ever_ be sure of was even less of an option, given that he'd likely already said more than was acceptable.

The old goat would surely give him an earful the next time they saw each other.

Looking into Lavi's single green eye, Allen knew that he understood.

He understood, but he didn't want to.

The redhead roughly helped him back up, practically throwing him forward and demanding, "Keep moving."

Allen could feel two sets of eyes burning holes in the back of his head—Lavi's, too, probably. He cast a glance at the apprentice, but Lavi didn't take his eyes away from the stairs, even as he continued to help Lenalee climb them.

And when they at last reached the next door and stepped through it into the next room, he wasn't surprised by the greeting that awaited them.

"A—"

He stepped to the side, moving around the oldest of the Apostles—the second oldest, if one took the Earl into account.

"—lle— Woah!"

She yelped as she crashed into the redhead standing behind him instead of her intended target. Allen, however, didn't stop there. His Innocence deactivated as he ran his fingers down the length of the table as he walked by it at a brisk pace. He advanced towards Joyd and the man sat watching him with ample curiosity. Allen smirked, just as Joyd did, and excitement pulsed through his veins as he finally came before him. His right hand touched the arm of the chair, while his other pulled Joyd to him by his collar.

The Noah grinned up at him with a mixture of surprise and intrigue before blowing a smoke ring in his face. Allen turned his head away to keep from inhaling the vile substance, pinching his lips shut to stop himself from coughing.

When the feeling and the smoke passed, Allen flashed the physically older man a look of disgust.

"That's a nasty habit, Joyd," he said as his hand moved away from the man's collar to pluck the cigarette from his mouth, pulling it away to press a kiss to the Noah's lips. There was nothing extraordinary about it; it was just a kiss, yet Allen's lips lingered on Joyd's own for too long. It was contact Allen had longed for that was both familiar and foreign because this wasn't the same Noah that he had known; he was different now and the repugnant stench of cigarette smoke filling his nostrils was a testament to that.

He graced the other man with a small smile as he pulled away, stopping only to press several, quick pecks on the man's lips before he returned the cigarette to its rightful place. Joyd's amber eyes widened subtly at the small show of genuine affection as he sat gently on the arm of the chair, slinking his arm around Joyd's shoulder and leaning into him slightly.

"We should find somewhere more..." he paused, lips curling into a soft smile as he ran his scaled hand down the man's clothed chest. This wasn't the Joyd he remembered, yet he was still being drawn in. Joyd remembered him; he just hadn't connected Junior and Allen Walker yet.

With a soft hum, he finished his sentence, "Private."

"_Oh_?"

The single sound that came out of the Noah's mouth was alluring, but when the man looked up at him to meet his eyes, it didn't stop Allen from rearing his head back and pulling it forward.

Just like earlier, their foreheads slammed together painfully and Allen felt a little triumphant knowing that Joyd had been surprised enough that he hadn't chosen to let it pass right through him.

"Wh—"

Joyd winced as he nursed the red mark appearing on his forehead with a gloved hand, clearly visible in spite of the row of stigmata that was already there. Gray eyes darkened as the young Bookman spat out, "That's for earlier, you stupid son of a bitch."


End file.
